PA Mayors for Marriage

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Philly’s Mayor Michael Nutter joined the Mayors for Marriage Equality campaign when it launched earlier this month, along with the mayor of Bethlehem. At the time, they were the only two mayors in the state to do so. But since then, four more mayors in the commonwealth have also voiced their support for marriage equality, including the mayors of Doylestown, Easton, Macungie and Reading.

“As with other mayors from cities around the country, I stand together with them in support of same-sex couples to marry,” says Reading’s Mayor Vaughn Spencer.

Macungie Mayor Rick Hoffman adds, “I am proud to be a part of this national effort to win equal rights for everyone.”

In early February, Freedom to Marry announced that 100 Mayors, including the mayors of Boston, Chicago, New York, San Diego, Houston and Los Angeles, were launching a national effort that would help support same-sex marriage initiatives in cities across the country.

“No government has the right to tell its citizens who they can marry,” says Mayor Sal Panto of Easton, who had already signed a domestic partner benefits ordinance into law.

“This is more proof for anyone who still needs it that our basic rights are really not that controversial,” explains Adrian Shanker, president of Equality Pennsylvania – a group that has been reaching out to civic leaders throughout the state to lend their support for the LGBT cause. “With Pennsylvania mayors jumping on the marriage equality train, coupled with polling demonstrating majority support for marriage equality, it is only a matter of time before our legislature will have to catch up with the rest of Pennsylvania and provide equal rights for us all.”

Mayor Libby White of Doylestown sees this as a personal issue. “All adults have the capacity to love,” she says.

Similarly, Macungie Mayor Rick Hoffman, explains, “The government has no right to stand in the way of consenting adults wishing to marry.”

A majority of Pennsylvanians agree with the mayors, saying they, too, support marriage equality, according to recent independent polling.

“We applaud these six mayors for standing up for equal relationship recognition for Pennsylvanians,” says Ted Martin, executive director of Equality Pennsylvania. “They are doing the right thing and I hope other mayors follow in their footsteps.”